According to the circus that opposes the Leader of the Opposition, it's all about power.

Jeremy Corbyn, they say, would not be able to command a sufficient parliamentary majority to form a government, and so he should be replaced.

Usually I am pretty sickened by marketing campaigns, since it appears to my cynical eyes that marketing is a technique used to make people believe that their lives will be improved by spending money on things they don't really need.

Since the Chancellor's messages to the financial community are often coded, I thought it might be interesting to try and interpret the hidden messages behind the words of last night's Mansion House speech by the newly-re-elected Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gorge Gideon Oliver Osborne.

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[Editorial note: I am not currently in America]

There's been a huge brouhaha within the Labour Party after its recent election defeat.

I have no right as a British national to come across as holier than thou in this matter. Britain has been screwing over other nations since before the United States of America was a gleam in the Founding Fathers' eyes.

It's a strange time to be living in America. It is said that those who cannot remember history are doomed to repeat its mistakes.

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Just suppose that one day one of those nearest and dearest to you—it could be a son, a father, a daughter, a cousin, a wife, a lover—was wiped out in a senseless terrorist incident. Just gone. No chance to say goodbye, to exchange a last loving farewell. Just gone, never to be seen again.

It's been a while since I posted anything here, for reasons too complex and boring to trouble you with. Suffice out to say that the beautiful garage is now someone else's garage.

There has been much talk lately about the vacation of the various sites occupied by protestors. Those critical of the protest movement have interpreted this as evidence of lack of determination.

I am sure that nobody thinks that the Justices of the Supreme Court are in any way corruptible. It seems to me, though, that the results of their recent work are such that they may just as well have sold out to the corporate world and profited from it as handsomely as they can.

Dear Team:

I have documented my efforts to unsubscribe from your newsletter in my blog, most recently at http://yorksamerica.blogspot.com/2011/06/bmi-are-definitely-not-interested-in.html. This communication is also being published there under the title "Open Letter to BMI's Web Team".

Well, that about wraps it up. Today I got yet another email from BMI, finally confirming that it doesn't matter how you set your "communications preferences", they will not stop spamming you.

I am really not sure what to do about BMI. I received another email today, so I checked my mailing preferences:

Sharpening my knives here and searching for "unsubscribe" ...

Following up on my last, rather acerbic, post about British Midland, it appears that if their unsubscribe link works it must do so at a glacial pace, because just now their June newsletter dropped into my inbox after I unsubscribed from all mailings (or so I thought) five days ago.

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Dear Lazyweb:

I don't ever want to get a single further email from British Midland unless I have unfortunately somehow found it necessary to use their services as an airline. This is a tale of how to screw up a customer relationship.

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So now we have a proposed executive order to ensure that federal contracting companies have to declare their political contributions.

In 2009, the richest 5 percent [in the United States] claimed 63.5 percent of the nation’s wealth. The overwhelming majority, the bottom 80 percent, collectively held just 12.8 percent.

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As the investigation into the failure modes of the Japanese nuclear reactors goes forward, uncomfortable information has emerged about the way regulatory requirements were circumvented.

I am seriously concerned that the erosion of civil liberties that the George W. Bush era typified continues under the president that promised "change we can live with". Or whatever promise he made.

So ever since 9/11 the politicians have been eroding American freedoms (can you say "PATRIOT Act"?) and generally behaving as though American citizens had no rights.

The current revolt in Egypt seems unlikely to be calmed or suppressed given that Egypt's troops have by and large refused to engage those involved in the popular uprising.

So the repressive and undemocratic rule of Hosni Mubarak is under threat from those whose lives it has made unbearable. But you can't find out about it via the Internet.

I have just watched someone I (scarily) believe to be a voter on television say "Barack Obama is the worst President in the history of the United States".

Lawrence O'Donnell is interviewing Michael Steele, chairman of the GOP, on TV and just asked him, in view of his opposition to the minimum wage, what the minimum wage actually was.

Funny how you can suffer (mildly) from something all your life and then only realize it in a moment of self-awareness. Probably everybody who ever read anything I wrote will laugh when I confess I believe I may be slightly dyslexic.

In what I sometimes laughably refer to as my "professional" life odd things seem to happen now and then. Last week, more by good luck than good judgment I did Congressman David Wu an accidental favor. We got to talking and lo, he had an interest in technology.

Those who know me well know that I am no royalist. Ask me my impression of the royal family and it will be along the lines of "worthless bunch of parasites".

Kudos, though, to Prince William for what appears to be a serious attempt to understand the plight of Britain's homeless people.

So "health care reform" continues to die the death of a thousand cuts. The single-payer option never really made it off the starting blocks. Then the public option was removed in the smoke-filled rooms.

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The recent news that UK banks receiving a further tranch of bailout money (strange how £40 billion no longer seems like a lot of money since the banks became too big to fail) are to have restrictions place on bonus payments has spurred the usual bullshit from the banks.

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If you happen to be one of those people who doesn't think this litter is a serious problem, please look at these pictures and think again. This is a graphic demonstration of the human race's careless abuse of the environment. Please stop it.

The case of Roman Polanski, who thirty years ago drugged and raped a 13-year old girl and then fled the US before sentencing after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, has brought into sharp relief the fact that some Hollywood celebrities appear to feel that artistic accompli

Well, here's a hard look at the American health care system that makes it pretty clear that some change is required. Paying more to die sooner doesn't sound to me like what people really want. Unfortunately many people in America don't realize what a crappy system they have got.

I don't tend to go in for media-bashing, because experience has taught me that those who listen exclusively to a single source of news are unlikely to question it, because it's telling them what they want to hear.

So the Atlanta police have killed another innocent person in their attempt to keep illegal drugs off the street.

Yorkshire Stuff
Yorkshire Stuff
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A director of the Python Software Foundation for eight years and its chairman for three, Steve wrote Python Web Programming and several popular Python classes. He plans to spend a lot more time in the UK from now on.
Past answers to random questions: Unlike a dog, how can a turtle ever be naked? It might have executed a shell escape ...
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